The Nationals Report

Sources. Here and Here.

This is good news, and will allow what I've stated as the best plan all along to occur, which is to give Flores a full year of seasoning in the minors before he assumes the job full-time in 2009. It also gives you the perception that the Nats aren't confident in the knees of an older, HGH-aided veteran, though the source claims that the proximity of the injury and signing are purely coincidence. Yeah. Right.

How do you feel about this left-handed, defensively challenged addition?

Update: Deal is finalized, and Flores will start the season in AA. Good moves.

Ut-oh. It appears our HGH-injecting, stationary-filling new catcher has a knee injury, of undetermined severity.
What does this mean? Well, two things. If it's serious, your starting catcher is named Jesus. This is not the worst thing that could happen, but I've been on record as stating that I think Jesus needs a full year at AAA before taking over full time. If Lo Duca is hurt for any long period of time, Flores would split time with Mueller or some other place holder. It could also mean that this could be the beginning of a long string of post-doping injuries that often plague players after they come off the juice. Since we don't know the specifics of the injury, we're forced into rampant speculation (the blogger's job).

Elsewhere in the article, there's another nugget of great news. Ready for it?



ESCOBAR re-signed! This guy, in his brief period of health, was dynamite. Power, speed, you name it. I would LOVE it if this guy could make it as a fourth outfielder, with Dukes slapping the ball around in AAA for a half season. I know people will laugh at my love for a player who's injury list is as long as the phonebook, but I don't care. I love Alex Escobar. I said it.

So, hey everybody. We're getting close to Viera, aren't we? Be ready for the deluge of posts once this thing gets going.